Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to help support the deployment of shared ground loops in rural areas.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides grants of £7,500 to support the installation of air source, ground source and water source heat pumps including plants installed as part of a shared ground loop. We are increasing the shared ground loops system capacity limit in May from 45kW to 300kW to address the concerns that groundworks for ground source heat pumps are a significant barrier to deployment.
Shared ground loop installations which satisfy the eligibility criteria for the Green Heat Network Fund can apply to the scheme for support. To be eligible, applicants must demonstrate that their networks can deliver a minimum of 2GWh per year of heat.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to support clean heat installations in rural areas.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government ‘help to heat’ schemes supports deployment of low carbon heating in rural areas through ECO, Wave 2 of SHDF and HUG2.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme also provides grants of £7,500 towards upfront cost and installation of air and ground source heat pumps. Up to the end of February 2024, 57% of grants paid out were for clean heat installations in rural areas
Through the Heat Network Transformation Programme, the Government is working with industry and local authorities to develop new heat networks and improve existing ones, including investing £500 million half a billion pounds in funds.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent discussions she has had with Ofgem on trends in the level of commercial energy tariff standing charges.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On 30 March, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State and I wrote to the Chief Executive of Ofgem, highlighting the importance of keeping standing charges as low as possible.
Ofgem launched a call for input in November 2023 on standing charges in the non-domestic and domestic retail markets, looking at how they are applied to energy bills and what alternatives could be considered. Ofgem is currently analysing the responses and will publish its response in due course.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2024 to Question 21031 on Carbon Emissions: Suffolk Coastal, if her Department will provide a breakdown of funding granted through Energy Company Obligation Schemes to residents of Suffolk Coastal constituency.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The ECO scheme is not funded directly by government, rather it is funded by obligated energy suppliers who then recoup the cost from their domestic customers. Government does not hold data on the geographical distribution of ECO spending.
To end of December 2023 (the latest available data) ECO schemes have supported the installation of 2,668 measures in 2,069 homes in the Suffolk Coastal constituency.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much and what proportion of the Energy Price Cap is allocated for debt servicing by suppliers.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The setting of the energy price cap rates each quarter is a matter for Ofgem.
Ofgem has published a breakdown of the price cap: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-price-cap
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what criteria was used to calculate the sums allocated for debt servicing by suppliers within the Energy Price Guarantee.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
There was no allocation for debt servicing within the Energy Price Guarantee.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the Prime Minister's speech on Net Zero on 20 September 2023, whether the Prime Minister had discussions with the Net Zero Council on the content of that speech prior to its delivery.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Net Zero Council is co-chaired by myself and CEO of the Co-operative Group, Shirine Khoury-Haq. Minutes of its meetings can be found on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/net-zero-council
Ministers and officials have regular discussions with 10 Downing Street on a range of issues across our departmental responsibilities, including net zero.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the minutes of the meeting of the Net Zero Council on 9 November 2023, which member of the Net Zero Council has been nominated to lead its public engagement workstream; and what steps the Council has taken to encourage consumer engagement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A public engagement working group has been convened under the Net Zero Council, meeting an ask from businesses for consumer-facing information on net zero to support their own engagement. The group is chaired by Council member Chris Hulatt, Co-founder of Octopus Investments, and includes representatives from key business sectors, behaviour change experts and public engagement specialists. The group is working with trade bodies to develop resources to support businesses to communicate effectively on the net zero transition, and advising the UK Government as it delivers on the public engagement commitments set out in Powering Up Britain: Net Zero Growth Plan.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the minutes of the Net Zero Council's meeting on 9 November 2023, what steps her Department is taking to support the first pillar of the Net Zero Council's SME workstream on net zero messaging.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Delivery of net zero relies on strong business action. The Council supported the re-launch of the UK Business Climate Hub, which provides information and resources to SMEs. The Hub highlights the benefits of reducing carbon emissions, setting out the opportunities offered by net zero and empowering businesses to act. The Council remains committed to further developing the UK Business Climate Hub.
The Council is also supporting SMEs through its Public Engagement workstream, which is developing resources to support businesses when communicating with staff, customers and supply chains on both the broader net zero transition and decarbonisation within their sector.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the Net Zero Council has consulted (a) industry associations and (b) sector-wide bodies during the development of business sector roadmaps.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Net Zero Council developed guidelines to help businesses create tailored action plans to reduce emissions across their sector. These were published last year and provide a robust, credible and consistent set of criteria for business sector roadmaps.
Industry-led roadmaps have been developed in line with this guidance for priority sectors of the economy, with input from both industry associations and sector-wide bodies.